Nikola Tesla was working on wireless power beaming in the early 1900's, but since that time nobody has really succeeded in replicating his work or taking it further. Wireless power is an important and necessary step in technological evolution that simply must happen. My guess is that it will be a commercial mainstream technology within 20 years, if not sooner.

January 25, 2007

If you or your children use cell phones frequently, consider getting earphones...

Long-term users of mobile phones are significantly
more likely to develop a certain type of brain tumour on the side of
the head where they hold their handsets, according to new research.

A
large-scale study found that those who had regularly used mobiles for
longer than 10 years were almost 40 per cent more likely to develop
nervous system tumours called gliomas near to where they hold their
phones

November 15, 2006

A group of physicists at MIT have come up with a new model for beaming wireless power to mobile devices, such as computers or cell phones. It promises to do for power, what wireless ethernet hubs do for network connectivity.

I've been interested in wireless power ever since I first read the biography of Nikola Tesla in the early 1990's. Tesla was perhaps the most important inventor of the 20th century -- he singlehandedly invented much of what enables the modern electrical power grid today. He also pioneered radio, and many other technologies. But his greatest dream was wireless power. He believed he had discovered a way to beam electricity to any point on earth and embarked on several ambitious projects to test and commercialize his appraoch. But sadly his projects were never completed due to funding problems and interference by competitors and investors who had conflicting business interests. By the end of his life Tesla was a lonely and forgotten man, feeding pidgeons in the park. At his death, many of his lab notebooks were confiscated and classified as Top Secret by the US military -- never to be seen again -- (and at least some this confiscated information was later used as the foundation for the Star Wars particle beam weaponry program). The greatest electrical genius in history was just too far ahead of his own time.

Tesla's work has still not been fully understood or replicated today. But what remains unclassified is a treasure trove of invention of great relevance to the world we live in today. In 2003 I blogged an article, called "I Want Wireless Power" outlining why I want this technology. Another great article about this opportunity is here.

April 01, 2006

A major, virtually unfixable, security flaw in the design of nearly all cell phones and other mobile devices will be announced this week by researchers at the Foundation for Microwave Safety (FMS). According to sources, it turns out that due to a coincidence in engineering, ordinary household microwave ovens can actually be used to receive and eavesdrop on all cell phone calls made or received within a 1 mile radius. Better yet, you can also use them to broadcast to all cell phones within a 1 mile radius!

According to the study, which will be released next week, the technique is ludicrously easy: simply go to any microwave oven. Set the power level to high. Next, on the microwave keypad or time setting dial, enter a time in that is at least a minute or so. Then hit the "Start" button. Next, press your ear against the microwave oven door as it runs and listen carefully -- you won't believe it, but you will actually hear cell phone calls. If you then wish to broadcast to all the calls you are hearing, simply speak loudly, while your head is pressed against the microwave door.

(Editor's Note -- WARNING: Do not try this at home!!! Permanent injury may result -- Please see warning at end of article. If you try this you may end up cooking your brain. If your brain is already cooked, make sure you set your microwave on "Reheat: Canned Vegetables" setting to avoid over-cooking, and season lightly with salt and butter.)

Why does this work? It turns out that the microwave transmission elements in ordinary microwave ovens are not so different from what's in your everyday cell phone, except much broader spectrum and slightly more power. "When microwave ovens run they act not only as transmitters, but also as receivers -- or what are called 'transceivers,'" says Philippe Connerie, of the FMS.

Although there is no true audio output or input, the microwave shielding in the case still resonates to the frequency of whatever is being received. If you press your head tightly against the casing you can hear these vibrations -- which are actual cell phone calls. When you speak it sends resonance back through the shielding which scatters the reflected microwaves to the frequency of your voice, which are then received back into the microwave, acting as modulators of the carrier wave of the emitter, which effectively broadcasts what you are saying across a range of microwave frequencies at once. Click here to read the paper.

WARNING: Pressing your head against any device that is actively emitting microwaves -- such as microwave ovens, cell phones, or other mobile devices -- may result in permanent injury, brain damage, cancer or death. Please do not do this, unless you are really stupid, in which case, go right ahead. But first read the paper (linked above) so that you understand that this is truly not something worth doing. If after reading that paper you still insist on trying this then I give up. -- The Editor

March 27, 2006

Japanese cell phone company KDDI is offering a new GPS-enabled 3D navigational tool to their 17 million subscribers (see article and picture). Their system helps consumers navigate city streets and even within buildings, using an innovative 3D map and audio directions. This system is similar to (but possibly more advanced than) the in-car navigation systems we are familiar with, such as Hertz "Neverlost" or the Magellan products (note: I have a Magellan aftermarket nav system in my car -- it's one of the most useful things I ever bought!).

GPS-enabled mobile devices and the location-aware services they enable are definitely a "Next Big Thing" contender. They have many compelling potential uses in the near-term and mid-term future. Below are some of my wild speculations on how this technology could be used:

Personal navigation. Your device can help you find your way when walking, driving, or even on the water or in the wilderness.

Location-aware advertising. Your device can get special offers from stores near you, as you walk or drive around, according to your permissions, preferences and profile of course.

Location-aware storage, search and retrieval. Your device remembers where you were when you wrote a note, took a photo, or sent a message.You can later search for your stuff based on where you were -- for example, "photos I took in Brazil" or "Notes I made at PC Forum in 2006" (for the best example of this, see the amazing product, EverNote -- the next version of which I got to preview recently, it is mind-blowingly cool!).

Location-aware photo-enhancement. When you take a photograph it is not only tagged with time and location where it was taken, but the content of the photo can be automatically tagged based on the orientation of the camera. For example, if you take a photo of the Empire State Building, your camera will someday be able to tag the photo as being about the Empire State Building, and can even detect and tag the shape of the building itself in the photo.

Location-aware social networking. Your device can track people nearby who are your friends, family, colleagues, or who match your interests and want to meet you (for example: dating). This can be useful to find people at a crowded event, or to hook up with your friends while out on the town, or to meet people at a trade show or conference.

Location-aware personal security. Your device can keep a transcript of your movements on a server. Parties you authorize can track you if they need to find you immediately, or in case you go missing. In addition, bulk alerts can be sent to people who happen to be in particular areas -- for example, if a tornado is coming, people who happen to be in that vicinity can be warned.

Location-aware information services. You can get news and other local info about the place you happen to be in. If you are standing outside a restaurant you can see reviews and discussions from people who have been there before. If you are already in the restaurant you can see recommendations of what to order from people who were there before you. Information can be virtually posted to particular places or regions -- you can hang a virtual post it note in your doorway so that anyone who passes through it gets the note.

November 07, 2005

A little-known start-up has demonstrated wireless broadband 1000
times more efficient than WiMax – and claims the technique could also
make wireless LANs that will run for years on watch batteries.

xG
Technology, based in Sarasota, Florida, used a transmitter not unlike a
cordless phone base station, operating in the unlicensed - and crowded
- 900MHz band, to send a 3.7Mbit/s data signal to a radius of 18 miles
across the suburbs of Miami, using 50mW and an omnidirectional antenna.

The data rate and specifications don't exactly match xG's original plan, which we reported in July,
as the demo uses a narrower band and a lower data rate. However, with
an omnidirectional antenna, the demonstration appears to have
transmitted a signal at a power density other schemes would find
impossible. The company's xMax technology uses a novel modulation
scheme, described at xG's own site.

June 03, 2005

A system for wireless quantum cryptography has been announced by BBN. This is curious: I wonder how they manage the key exchange? They could be using a laser, I suppose, but that would only be line of sight, or would require airborne reflectors. Another possibility would be the EPR effect, but if they actually built a transmitter based on that they would probably win the Nobel Prize, so I'm doubtful. It will be interesting to learn more. Also, I wonder what the reaction will be over at MagiQ.

April 08, 2005

Here is an interesting article about an analysis of SMS messaging versus e-mail messaging on mobile networks. The conclusion is that e-mail messaging is more efficient for mobile consumers because email networks are scale-free networks. The article predicts that services based on scale-free topologies will ultimately win out over less optimal alternatives. Thanks to Murli.

October 28, 2004

NFC. An interesting way for devices to share data, if they are within a few centimeters of one another. Sounds kind of like Bluetooth -- which I have still not needed for anything. But I like the vision anyway -- if all devices did this it could be very useful -- I've always wanted to be able to "grab" data by swiping my phone near something I am interested in (without needing a bar code scanner).

August 10, 2004

Following up on my earlier post about storing messages in DNA it might be interesting to explore ways to encode large volumes of data directly into parts of the human body. Messing with DNA is risky -- it may be safer to store data in other parts of the human body (with the one potential disadvantage that such data would not be passed down via heredity). Here are some suggestions for parts of the human body that might be good media for data-storage:

July 13, 2004

I was having lunch with my aunt today and she complained that her earrings were always getting in the way of her cell phone. I suddenly said, "hey, wouldn't it be cool if your earrings were your cellphone!" The basic idea would be to make earrings that had bluetooth, a speaker and a mic in them. We could call them "hearrings." They would be better than an earbud or an annoying wired earphone. Of course it would only really work for women (ok, and some men who have their ears pierced I supposed).

June 28, 2004

The title of this post says it all. I want a single device that has:
- Cell phone
- Email (Blackberry pager style) & PIM (Palm Desktop)
- iPod MP3 player
- Digital camera (stills or short videos)
- e-Wallet (all my credit/debit cards on a chip, securely protected)
- GPS
- LCD for video/still images and text
- Broadband wireless Internet
- Bluetooth, and Bluetooth earbud/mic
- Java OS so I can download and run stuff
- Laser gun (OK, OK, had to throw that in)
- AM/FM radio receiver
- Retinal or fingerprint scanner or some other built-in biometric security so only I can use it
- Bar code reader (would be useful to have -- would enable me to scan items that I want to price compare or remember for later)

June 27, 2004

A recent study indicates that radiation from cell phones harms sperm cells, and further that males who carry cellphones near their groin region may have up to a 30% reduction in fertility. I have long suspected that there are dangers from carrying cell phones in pockets or on belt clips -- after all these things are microwave transmitters -- it's insane to put them right next to the family jewels! Instead, someone should invent a cell phone that can be worn on the wrist or ankle, as far as possible from any vital organs. Using either Bluetooth, body-conduction, or even a wire, it could then communicate with an earbud and microphone. As I have said before, the mobile phone revolution is one of the largest uncontrolled biological experiments on the human population ever performed. We have no idea what the long-term effects of daily point-blank exposure of vital organs and DNA to microwaves will have on our own bodies, let alone future generations. In any case, until they make Faraday cage underwear, I'll be keeping my cell phone out of my pants!

April 11, 2004

New software can figure out where you are positioned based on analyzing a photo in near real time. Simply send it a photo from your camera-phone and the software will match the image to a database of locations -- such as buildings in a city -- and give you back your coordinates. The software is potentially more accurate than GPS.

March 12, 2004

I call it a Lifelog -- Nokia calls it a "Lifeblog" (my terminology is better) -- but it's the same idea -- a log of all the stuff you experience -- your whole life, blogged and online. OK but the key is to make sure I can keep my lifeblog private -- or at least parts of it private! I would like my camera phone to take a photo every minute and add it to my Lifelog automatically. Then I can speed through it flip-book-animation style to get to a section I am interested in. Next would be to add a digital streaming voice recorder to my phone and record whatever is being said on every phone call, and even when I am not on a call at 1 minute intervals. Using voiceprints and speech-to-text we can then index who was speaking and what was said as a way to search and navigate the Lifelog -- for example, this would make it possible to find all photos that correspond to times when Sue was speaking about "Internet." With a little more work we could link this to additional semantics and make it really searchable.

January 21, 2004

A Japanese telecom has introduced a cell-phone that does bone-conduction to transmit audio through your skull. You are supposed to hold it up to your head so you can hear the phone vibrating through the bones of your skull. Gee, just what I always wanted! One catch though -- they say it works best if you "plug both ears" while you use it. So how are you supposed to hold it to your head and plug both ears at the same time? Maybe if you use the thing enough you grow a third arm? Of course there's another wonderful feature of this phone -- the act of putting it against your skull also angles the antenna right into your brain. Hmm. Nice! And then there's the issue of being able to listen to bone-conducted audio, but not speak -- so the damn thing is only good for voicemail review. Excuse me but why is this any better than an earphone? Isn't an earphone a little less obtrusive than walking around with your cell phone stuck to your forehead??? Maybe we need a special new World Court for prosecuting bad industrial designers?

January 18, 2004

Well I finally made the leap and got a 40 Gb iPod recently. Thanks to RipDigital the process of digitizing my nearly 1000 CDs took only 1 day and I got it all back on a nice new 250 Gb Maxtor external drive (as well as a stack of DVDs containing a backup of all the new MP3s). After a few days of hacking around I got everything working and all my music organized, categorized into playlists and synched with my iPod. I also downloaded a useful little utility that I found on iPod Lounge that enables me to load all my Palm Desktop contacts onto my iPod addressbook too. The iPod is a fantastic innovation that is very well designed. After only a short time using I know I can't live without it, and I can't imagine how I surivived for the last year without one. Not only that but iTunes and the Apple Music Store are totally addictive. I've already spent quite a bundle on music there. But although the iPod is great, I do have a wishlist of features that I would like to see in a future version of the device and the software. I will list some of my suggestions for improving the iPod here. I will update it from time to time. Feel free to add comments with your own feature suggestions to this posting. Maybe Apple will notice it someday and use some of these ideas.

January 09, 2004

CNN posted an article today about the potential risk of nanotechnology on the human brain. Basically some research shows that nano-scale particles such as industrial waste, or even components of nanotechnologies, can migrate through the human circulatory system and eventually lodge in the brain. This could cause harmful effects. But on the other hand, maybe this "bug" is actually a "feature!"

The fact that this is possible could be used to introduce nanoscale computational devices into the human nervous system -- essentially splicing a distributed computer into a living human brain. Suppose the nanoparticles could establish an ad hoc local area network amongst themselves, and suppose they lodged throughout the human nervous system, attaching to neurons. Suddenly it might be possible to do real-time sensing -- and triggering -- of any neuron in the human body. And all of this could be monitored by an external computer system. This could enable amazing new biofeedback systems. But that's just the beginning -- because it might also enable people to "backup" their nervous systems -- including perhaps their memories and skills. It could also potentially enable software augmentation of human thinking as it happens -- an external computer network could interact with your own "internal network" and as you think or sense things, it could search the entire Net or an expert system, or the brains of other people in your network, and give you suggestions, knowledge, etc.

Essentially this could be a way to network humans to computers, the Internet, and then to other humans. This could enable future "group minds" and "collective intelligences" that we cannot even imagine yet. It could also enable humans to easily interact with virtual reality environments -- they could be overlaid onto their sensory experience to augment information (such as a visual scene being augmented with labels or diagrams etc.), or even to "switch channels" from this "reality" (which may also be virtual) that we experience to other synthetic realities that exist in our computer networks. It might even enable people to record their dreams, and/or enter the dreams of other people -- that would be the most advanced "virtual reality" possible.

Another interesting application of this technology might be to deliver neural drugs more effectively. It could also be used to facilitate interspecies communication -- for example imagine a system that could map between a human brain and a dolphin brain. You permeate both a human and dolphin's nervous systems with nanocomputing particles. First there is "learning phase" where an external system monitors them as they do things in order to learn how their brains work. Then it starts to learn how to map between them by observing how they interact with other organisms of their species and with their environments in order to figure out their language, communicat and memory representation schemes.

Once that is known it could directly map information between them, maybe even in real-time, enabling not only communication but even memory uploading and downloading. That would be cool -- imagine being able to do virtual telepresence into the nervous system of a dolphin as it swims around with its pod in the wild. You could "look through it's sense organs" as it swims around, and maybe even observe what it thinks and feels like -- sort a window into being someone else -- in this case someone who is of a different species. Among the many other applications of this technology of course there would be amazing potential in the arts, education, therapy, collaboration, entertainment, science, relationships, etc. and many other enjoyable diversions that people would probably figure out they could engage in once their nervous systems are networked.

Anyway the idea of permeating a human nervous system with networkable nanocomputers is definitely something to think about, or think twice about, as the case may be (pun intended!).

September 30, 2003

According to a new study, the radio signals from new 3G cellphones may cause headaches and nausea in users. This comes on top of last month's news that cellphone microwaves cause brain cells to fail to regenerate in old-age and may cause early-senility. The mobile industry is conducting the biggest uncontrolled biological experiment on the human species in history.

August 07, 2003

The good news is that they have a vaccine for Ebola. The bad news is, you have to be a monkey to get it. This is a good first step towards a human vaccine. Although this probably won't help much against the rumored Ebola-Smallpox chimeras that were developed by Biopreparat in Russia.

August 06, 2003

Quite possibly The Most Useless Wireless Service in History... Researchers will soon enable wireless callers to listen to real live dolphins on their mobile phones. They claim that wireless phone users can even call up and listen to dolphin clicks and whistles while sitting in traffic jams -- Gee, just what I always wanted! Their technology transmutes dolphinese to audible human frequencies and then pipes them into a mic that you can dial into. That's just great, if you happen to be able to understand dolphin-speak. I think this would be a lot cooler if it was a two-way channel -- If I could speak to the dolphins via my phone that might be interesting. John Lilly, one of the pioneers of dolphin research did some interesting experiments in this arena. In one notable experiment he was floating in an isolation tank that was wired up via a two-way communications link to a dolphin pool nearby. He said he experienced the dolphins using their sonar to sound out the dimensions of his floatation tank -- via the microphone -- and then he even felt them sounding out the profile of his body floating in the tank.

I think the Next Big Thing is going to be Wireless Power. I want it now. Tesla among others established that wireless power is possible, so why hasn't anyone started a venture to provide it? Wireless power is going to be essential to the next generation of mobile devices. I think it's only a matter of time before we have it. Whomever figures out how to do it is going to make a fortune. Here are my thoughts on some approaches to this opportunity...

Twine | Nova Spivack - My Public Twine items

Radar Networks

In 1999 I flew to the edge of space with the Russian air force, with Space Adventures. I made it to an altitude of just under 100,000 feet and flew at Mach 3 in a Mig-25 piloted by one of Russia's best test-pilots. These pics were taken by Space Adventures from similar flights to mine. I didn't take digital stills -- I got the whole flight on digital video, which was featured on the Discovery Channel.

In 1999 I was invited to Russia as a guest of the Russian Space Agency to participate in zero-gravity training on an Ilyushin-76 parabolic flight training aircraft. It was really fun!!!! Among other people on that adventure were Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize and Zero-G Corporation), Bijal Trivedi (a good friend of mine, science journalist), and "Lord British" (creator of the Ultima games). Here are some pictures from that trip...

People I Like

Peter F. DruckerPeter F. Drucker was my grandfather. He was one of my principal teachers and inspirations all my life. My many talks with him really got me interested in organizations and society. He had one of the most impressive minds I've ever encountered. He died in 2005 at age 95. Here is what I wrote about his death. His foundation is at http://www.pfdf.org/

Mayer SpivackMayer Spivack is my father; he's a brilliant inventor, cognitive scientist, sculptor, designer and therapist. He also builds carbon fiber trimarans in his spare time, and studies animal intelligence. He is working on several theories related to the origins of violence and ways to prevent it, new treatments for learning disabilities, and new theories of cognition. He doesn't have a Web site yet, but I'm working on him...

Marin SpivackMarin Spivack is my brother. He is the one of the only western 20th generation lineage holders of the original Chen Family Tai Chi tradition in China. He's been practicing Tai Chi for about 6 to 10 hours a day for the last 10 years and is now one of the best and most qualified Tai Chi teachers in America. He just returned from 3 years in China studying privately with a direct descendant of the original Chen family that created Tai Chi. The styles that he teaches are mainly secret and are not known or taught in the USA. One thing is for sure, this is not your grandmother's Tai Chi: This is serious combat Tai Chi -- the original, authentic Tai Chi, not the "new age" form that is taught in the USA -- it's intense, physically-demanding, fast, powerful and extremely deadly. If you are serious about Tai Chi and want to learn the authentic style and applications, the way it was meant to be, you should study with my brother. He's located in Boston these days but also travels when invited to teach master classes.

Louise FreedmanLouise specializes in art-restoration. She does really big projects like The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, The Gardner Museum and Harvard University. She's also a psychotherapist and she's married to my dad. She likes really smart parrots and she knows how to navigate a large sailboat.

Kris ThorissonKris has been working with me for years on the design of the Radar Networks software, a new platform for the Semantic Web. He has a PhD from the MIT Media Lab. He designs intelligent humanoids and virtual realities. He is from Iceland, which makes him pretty cool.

Kimberly RubinKim is my girlfriend and partner, and also a producer of 11 TV movies, and now an entrepreneur in the pet industry. She is passionate about animals. She has unusual compassion and a great sense of humor.

Kathleen SpivackKathleen Spivack is my mother. She's a poet, novelist and creative writing teacher. She was a personal student of Robert Lowell and was in the same group of poets with Silvia Plath, Elizabeth Bishop and Anne Sexton. She coaches novelists, playwrites and poets in France and the USA. She teaches privately and her students, as well as being published, have won many of the top writing prizes.

Josh KirschenbaumJosh is a visual effects whiz, director and generalist hacker in LA. We have been pals and collaborators since the 1980's. Josh is probably going to be the next Jim Cameron. He's also a really good writer.

Joey TamerJoey is a long-time friend and advisor. She is an expert on high-tech strategic planning.

Jim WissnerJim is among the most talented software developers I've ever worked with. He's a prolific Java coder and an expert on XML. He's the lead engineer for Radar Networks.

Jerry MichalskiI have been friends with Jerry for many years; he's been advising Radar Networks on social software technology.

Chris JonesChris is a long-time friend and now works with me in Radar Networks, as our director of user-experience. He's a genius level product designer, GUI designer, and product manager.

Bram BorosonBram is an astrophysicist and college pal of mine. We spend hours and hours brainstorming about cellular automata simulations of the universe. He's one of the smartest people I ever met.

Bari KoralBari Koral is a really talented singer songwriter. We co-write songs together sometimes. She's getting some buzz these days -- she recently opened for India Arie. She worked at EarthWeb many years ago. Now she tours almost all year long and she just had a hit in Europe. Check out her video, on her site.

Adam CohenAdam Cohen is a long-term friend; we were roommates in college. He is a really talented composer and film-scorer. He doesn't have a Web site but I like him anyway! He's in Hollywood living the dream.